AEW Roster Split Received “Mixed Reactions” Backstage

Collision debuted on the 17th of June and while CM Punk’s return was the most notable moment on the show, several other absent AEW stars made their presence felt as well.

Miro returned to action for the first time since All Out 2022 as he made short work of Tony Nese. Andrade El Idolo seems to be in the sights of The House of Black as he also made his comeback to the ring in AEW where he defeated Buddy Matthews, taking inspiration from his wife Charlotte Flair.

In the lead-up to Collision making its debut, there had been reports that Tony Khan was considering a brand split of sorts to help keep certain stars away from each other to help quell backstage tensions and also give more time to less featured stars on the new show, but it doesn’t look like it’s quite happening.

Fightful Select has now reported that there is more to Tony Khan’s recent comments about a roster split not happening now in AEW. The report notes that as of a few months ago details were sent out to the company noting that there would be “two distinct rosters” for Dynamite and Collisions with exceptions being made, most notably for champions.

That was said to have been met with mixed feelings internally with several stars said to be unhappy that they could potentially miss out on signings and other bookings despite the company looking at those as a luxury for its contracted talent since AEW is the priority for those stars.

[sided-debate-embed debate-id=”27618″]

Some were said to be happy about the move as the company looked to minimize backstage issues, not least between CM Punk and The Elite.

Sources at Warner Brothers Discovery are said to have preferred no split but were open to see what could work. The previous trademark for the term “transfer portal” was made in relation to a potential roster split but the idea is on the shelf for now.

CM Punk, although the cornerstone of Collision, is apparently scheduled to appear on the 21st of June edition of Dynamite which will take place in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.